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Spoonful of Sugar May Curb Stress, Obesity

Sweets may decrease production ofmost common types of stress -- psychological
glucocorticoid, a stress-related hormone thatand physical."Psychological stress could
has been linked to obesity and decreasedinvolve such things as public speaking, being
immune response, researchers from thethreatened, or coping with the death of a
University of Cincinnati (UC) haveloved one.Examples of physical stress are
found."Glucocorticoids are produced wheninjury, illness, or prolonged exposure to
psychological or physical stressors activatecold.No Weight Increase ObservedFor the
a part of the brain called the 'stressstudy, researchers gave adult male rats free
axis,'" says Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, PhD, aaccess to food and water, and also offered
postdoctoral fellow in the department ofthem a small amount of either a sugar drink,
psychiatry."These hormones help an individualan artificially sweetened drink, or water
survive and recover from stress, but havetwice a day.After two weeks, the rats were
been linked to increased abdominal obesitygiven a physical and psychological stress
and decreased immune function when producedchallenge. Following both types of stress,
in large amounts," she adds."Finding anotherrats that had consumed the sugar drink had
way to affect the body's response to stresslower glucocorticoid levels than those that
and limit glucocorticoid production coulddrank the water. Those drinking the
alleviate some of these dangerous healthartificially sweetened drink showed only
effects," Dr. Ulrich-Lai suggests.Theslightly reduced glucocorticoid
laboratory findings were presented onlevels.Although the researchers were not
November 15 at the annual Society forstudying the health effects of the sweetened
Neuroscience meeting in Washington,drinks, they did not see a body-weight
DC.Psychological and Physical StressDr.increase in the rats consuming the sugar
Ulrich-Lai and a team of researchers from thedrinks.The next step will be to determine how
department of psychiatry showed that whenthese sweetened drinks are decreasing
laboratory rats chose to eat or drink sweetglucocorticoid production, notes James
snacks their bodies produced lower levels ofHerman, PhD, co-author, professor and stress
glucocorticoid."The sweets we are talkingneurobiologist in the department of
about are not the low-calorie,psychiatry."We need to find out if there are
sugar-substitute variety," says Dr.certain parts of the brain that control the
Ulrich-Lai. "We actually found that sugarresponse to stress," he says, "then determine
snacks, not artificially sweetened snacks,if the function of these brain regions are
are better 'self-medications' for the twochanged by sugar snacking.



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